What is Braille And How It Was Created

The widely accepted definition of Braille is that it is a touch reading and writing system for the blind and visually impaired. This may be clear and straightforward enough. But looking past this definition, we will find that Braille offers so much more than just a way for blind people to read and write. We will also see that behind this system lies a story of hope, perseverance, and ingenuity.

Louis Braille: The Man Behind It All

This story started more than 200 years ago in France, with a lad named Louis Braille. When he was just 3, Louis accidentally injured his eye while playing with his father’s tools. Despite his family’s efforts to send him to several doctors, the injury led to an infection that spread to his other eye. This ultimately caused Louis’ blindness.

Louis however managed to receive a scholarship at a school for the blind in Paris. There, the students’ means of reading was through the use of books whose texts were in the form of tactile shapes of letters. These books were incredibly difficult to produce, and they were very heavy and also difficult to read.

While he was a student, Louis encountered Captain Charles Barbier de la Serre. Barbier had devised a system for soldiers to read and write messages in the dark. Louis was in awe when he felt the dots of the sample messages created through Barbier’s night-writing system. Learning the system thoroughly, Louis identified the major problems with Captain Barbier’s system and worked to improve it.

After several attempts, Louis, at age 15, finally completed the modifications and unveiled his alphabet to his classmates and teacher. The main difference between Louis’ alphabet system and Barbier’s system was that Louis’ had smaller dots which could be felt under one fingertip.

The alphabet system was received positively by his school. When he was 20 years old, he created the first book about his system. Later on, he and a few of his friends became professors at the school. All of them were using the alphabet system.

Louis Braille and his reading and writing system was not without its own major challenges. Changes in the school’s administration caused a policy to implement another writing system for the blind by John Alston. This was a print-like tactile system. Implementation of this tactile system included the destruction of all books written in Louis Braille’s writing system.

After several turns of events, Louis Braille’s system was again accepted by the school. Many groups from other countries inquired about the writing system. Soon, people began to refer to the system as Braille in recognition of its creator. Louis Braille continued teaching through his writing system until his death in 1852.

Louis Braille’s legacy lived on long after he passed away. A few years after his death, France deemed Braille as the official communications system for blind people. At the school for the blind, Braille’s colleagues created ways to improve the system, retaining its primary structure. The Braille system soon spread to other countries and eventually gained worldwide recognition and acceptance.

A Close Look at Braille

After learning about the awe-inspiring story of Braille, let us take a look at what it is exactly.

Braille consists of raised dots that represent letters of the print alphabet. Since the dots in the specific medium used (e.g. Braille paper) are raised, they can be easily felt by blind people. Braille also includes symbols for numbers and punctuations.

Each set of dots is grouped within a cell. A single cell contains two vertical parallel rows. And in each row, there are three dots, making it a total of six dots. A specific combination of these raised dots represents a particular character.

The slate and stylus are the most common writing tools for Braille. The slate provides equal spaces for the cells and the depressions for the dots. The stylus is a pointed device for creating the individual dots on paper. The writer inserts paper in the slate and punches the stylus into the paper to create the raised dots.

Unlike regular printed text, Braille requires that the writer has to punch in the opposite of the character. This is done so that the characters can be read the right way once the paper is turned over. After creating the raised dots, the writer takes out the paper from the slate and reads the created Braille dots.

Apart from the slate and stylus, the Braille writer has become a common writing tool for people who use Braille. This is the Braille equivalent of the typewriter. A regular Braille writer has six keys representing the six dots, and a space key. The user has to insert the paper in the Braille writer. Then the user presses the key combination of the desired character.

Braille writers enable users to write more quickly. This made Braille writers very popular among blind and visually impaired groups around the world. However, the slate and stylus still maintain their importance. This is because these tools remain the most portable and cost-effective devices for writing Braille.

More than a Reading and Writing System

Braille is not just a way for blind people to read and write. Several innovations paved the way for it to be implemented in other major fields.

Braille in Music

Musicians who cannot see standard print music notations can make use of Braille music. This is a type of Braille code that enables a person to write music in Braille. Similar to the traditional Braille system, Braille music uses the same cell structure with six dots. Braille music has its own distinct set of meanings for each symbol. It also has its own abbreviations.

Braille in Mathematics

Braille includes symbols for mathematical operations and math-related characters and notations. This enables blind persons to read and write equations, computations, and other mathematical statements.

Tactile Representations Inspired by Braille

Braille also gives blind people the chance to feel and understand graphs, diagrams, and simple pictures. There are now tactile images that use Braille dots to represent the details of these types of documents. Although there are limitations as to what can be expressed in a tactile way, it still provides a good avenue for the blind to know the information that sighted people see in these visual representations.

I was always impressed by this system that gives the blinds the possibility to read and write. My uncle is blind and I play with him chess sometimes - he can see my positions with the help of the braille numbers on the checkerboard...

Divena,
It is absolutely true that it is THE system to read and write. There are so many alternatives to it, yet, none of them were able to step into the place of Braille. These systems provide additional great resources. Just like audio books never replaced the need for learning to read. But I'll get to it in a post soon.

Debbie,
I'm glad I was able to post information that you found interesting. There's more coming about Braille, stay tuned.

Good, informative post. The web must me quite different. I don't know but I would guess that those visually handicapped must use some sort of reader that provides a voice reading via computer. I would be interested to know if that technology exists. I guess I could explore this site and your services to find out. Thanks.

What an interesting article! I've always been fascinated by Braille but never knew the history behind it. I love hearing stories like this, very cool that the system it's based on was developed for soldiers to write and read at night. Makes sense, you're not going to want to turn on a flashlight and reveal your position if you are behind enemy lines are you?

How amazing that Louis was only 15 when he completed his system. I was horrified to see that at one point the school destroyed all the books in Braille! Having worked at a University for many years I'm very familiar with that kind of 'politics' and the damage it can do. But it's still shocking to read it, what a waste!

Thanks for such an interesting article. I never liked history in school (the textbooks were so dry and boring), but I love reading interesting accounts like this.

Thanks for your nice feedback, Donna.
I have seen a couple of old book destructions a couple of decades ago. It hurts. Those days, they manually created Braille books. Somebody had to type it out with a Braille writer, and then they binded them together. One book could take weeks or months, and instead of fixing them they just got burnt or went to the trash.

Fascinating article! I have noticed Braille and raised symbols for the visually impaired in many venues, but the one that always puzzled me was ATM machines. How could a blind person get any advantage from the Braille buttons when the screen silently gives directions that you have to read? It seems a little short-sighted. I'll have to click over to your next post and see if you answered that question. :)